The Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 is an HDR LCD laser projector with pixel-shifting technology. It's an Ultra Short Throw (UST) projector, so it's capable of projecting content at an extremely short distance from the screen or wall: it projects an 80" image at a distance of 0.9" and up to a 150" image at a distance of 9.9". It has three HDMI ports; one of which doubles as an ARC port, and each accepts a signal of up to 4k @ 60Hz. The third HDMI port, labeled 'Game,' can project 1080p @ 120Hz, which is great for gamers. It has an integrated 2.1 Yamaha sound system with two full-range 5W speakers and a 10W subwoofer. It has Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 5 support and comes with the Android TV smart interface with full Chromecast integration.
Our Verdict
The Epson LS800 is good for watching movies. It's very bright, so it performs well in moderately-lit rooms, and it looks satisfactory in dark rooms due to its decent contrast, as its whites are very bright next to the image's blacks. The projector is bright enough to take advantage of its satisfactory color gamut, so its colors are decently vibrant, although most of them are oversaturated. The LS800's color accuracy is decent overall without any calibration, and while the projector has limited calibration options, you can easily improve its accuracy by changing a few settings.
- Very bright.
- Has a full suite of smart features with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0.
- Ultra Short Throw projector that you can place very close to the wall or screen.
- Doesn't have any calibration features for color accuracy purists.
No Dolby Vision or HDR10+ support.
The Epson LS800 is decent for living-room gaming on a very big screen. It's one of the brightest ultra-short-throw projectors you can buy. SDR and HDR titles look punchy once you dim the lights, even if native contrast isn't on the level of a dedicated home-theater unit; this means that it isn't the best choice for image quality in a pitch black room. It accepts 4k at 60Hz and 1080p at 120Hz, and in its Game Mode preset, the projector pares back processing to keep input lag relatively low, especially at 120Hz. It's not low enough for serious competitors, but most people will be satisfied with the unit's latency. Unfortunately, it doesn't have Dolby Vision or 1440p support.
- Very bright.
Has a dedicated Game Mode for responsive gaming.
Supports most common gaming resolutions.
No Dolby Vision or HDR10+ support.
No true native 1440p support.
Changelog
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Updated Oct 03, 2025:
We made some minor adjustments before our official TBU 0.10 launch.
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Updated Oct 03, 2025:
We've added text to the Imaging, Optics, Noise, Supported Resolutions, HDR Format Support, 3D, Input Lag, and Audio Passthrough boxes as a result of our latest test bench. We've also added Gaming and Game Mode Responsiveness usages in the Verdict section.
- Updated Oct 03, 2025: We've converted the review to Test Bench 0.10, which updates our Design tests, and adds a whole new suite of Inputs tests. We also added new gaming-oriented usage scores in Our Verdict. See the 0.10 changelog.
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Updated May 14, 2025:
We mentioned the newly reviewed AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro in the Color Gamut section of this review.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the Epson LS800. This projector doesn't have any variants, but it has a lower-tier model, the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS300, which is very similar to the LS800 but without pixel-shifting technology, so it is limited to 1080p @ 60Hz input on its two HDMI ports.
Our unit was manufactured in 2023; you can see the label here.
Popular Projector Comparisons
The Epson LS800 is a good projector. It's very bright, with decent contrast, and it comes with Android TV, Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 5.0. It's also an Ultra Short Throw (UST) projector, so you can place it close to the screen or wall. However, it's very expensive, and outside of its pixel-shifting technology and 1080p @ 120Hz capability, it's basically identical to the much cheaper and equally good 1080p Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS300. If you want pixel-shifting technology, the BenQ X3000i is more affordable and better than the LS800. If you don't need smart wireless features, the Epson Home Cinema 3800 is cheaper, with better image quality. If you need both pixel shifting and UST capabilities, then the LS800 is one of the better options on the market, as it offers better image quality than other comparable products.
Check out our recommendations for the best 4k projectors, the best projectors for home theater, and the best short-throw projectors. If you'd prefer a cheaper unit, look up the best projectors under $1,000 instead.
The Hisense PX3-PRO is better than the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800, but they excel in different environments. The Epson is noticeably brighter, so it's the better option to use in rooms that aren't light controlled, or even as a patio option. The Hisense has the far better contrast, however, with punchier colors; this makes it the much better option for darker rooms. The Hisense also comes with a wider feature set than the Epson, making it more versatile.
The Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 is much better than the Samsung LSP7T. They're both Ultra Short Throw projectors, but you can place the Epson closer to the screen or wall than the Samsung. The Epson is much brighter, with better contrast than the Samsung. The Epson is also much more accurate out-of-the-box, although the Samsung has more calibration options, so it looks better than the Epson after some tweaking. The Samsung also has a wider color gamut, but it's not bright enough to really make colors pop.
The Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS300 and Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 are very similar projectors, with the main difference being that the LS300 is limited to 1080p @ 60Hz on its two HDMI ports. In comparison, the LS800 is a 4k pixel shift projector capable of up to 4k @ 60Hz on its three HDMI ports and 1080p @ 120Hz on its third port. This means that the LS800 also projects a sharper image overall, but the LS300 is much more accurate out-of-the-box.
The Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 is better than the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro. They're similar in terms of contrast, and the AWOL Vision has the far wider color gamut in the Rec. 2020 color space, but the Epson is significantly brighter overall, making it more versatile. It's also far more accurate out-of-the-box than the AWOL Vision.
We've independently bought and tested over 60 projectors, and we've published all the detailed results for each so you can decide which one to buy. These have all been tested under the same standardized methodology, allowing you to compare them side by side. We still have all these projects in our lab so we can continually go back and compare them to ensure our reviews are still accurate. All our test methodology is also public on our website, so you can validate the results yourself.
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Test Results
The Epson LS800's peak brightness is excellent. It has very good brightness uniformity, although the corners of the projection are a bit darker than the rest of the image. The projector is bright enough to make colors pop, and overall, it's bright enough for moderately-lit rooms.
The Epson LS800 has decent contrast. It doesn't have inky blacks, but its whites are very bright compared to its blacks, providing a pleasant viewing experience in dark rooms. If you're looking for a UST projector with inky blacks, consider the NexiGo Aurora Pro instead.
The projector has decent pre-calibration accuracy. Its white balance is satisfactory, although reds are underrepresented in most shades of gray, while blues are overrepresented in the brighter shades. Its color accuracy is alright, but the projector struggles with representing accurate blues and greens, and its purples are too blue. The projector's color temperature leans very cold, giving everything a blueish tint, and its gamma is too dark in most scenes. If you care about Pre-Calibration Color Accuracy, consider the XGIMI AURA 2 instead.
The Epson LS800 has very limited calibration options. Still, after turning off all image processing features and lowering the saturation and color temperature settings, the projector's white balance and color temperature are much better than they were out of the box. As for color accuracy, it's also improved, but blues and greens are still inaccurate, although purples are now much better.
The projector has a decently wide color gamut. It does an excellent job with the Rec. 709 color space, which is used with SDR content, although most of its colors are oversaturated, and cyan is undersaturated. Unfortunately, it doesn't display the wider Rec. 2020 color space very well. If that's what you're primarily looking for, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro has an extremely wide color gamut in the Rec. 2020 color space.
The Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 uses a 3LCD imaging system paired with Epson's 4K PRO-UHD pixel shifting. That means it isn't a native 4K projector; it uses fast 1080p panels and two-phase shifting to place more addressable pixels on screen, which boosts fine detail compared with a 1080p-only model.
The light source is a laser-phosphor module rated for a long service life with no lamp to replace. Its spectral power distribution looks like most blue-laser/phosphor engines: a narrow spike in blue and a broad green-to-yellow hump from the phosphor, with comparatively less deep-red energy, so most saturated reds aren't as intense as you'll see on tri-laser designs.
This is an ultra-short-throw projector with a fixed lens, so there's no optical zoom, and placement is measured in inches from the wall rather than feet. Manual focus and digital keystone are available, but there's no lens shift, so the cleanest geometry comes from careful physical placement. Epson advertises a 0.4 maximum throw ratio, but it's just a digital zoom. A 100-inch image puts the chassis just a handful of inches from the wall, and even a 120- to 150-inch setup keeps it well under two feet away. Here’s a list of projection distances for numerous screen sizes:
- 80″ → ~11.2 in (0.93 ft)
- 90″ → ~12.6 in (1.05 ft)
- 100″ → ~13.9 in (1.16 ft)
- 120″ → ~16.7 in (1.39 ft)
- 130″ → ~18.1 in (1.51 ft)
- 150″ → ~20.9 in (1.74 ft)
The Epson LS800 is a massive projector, so it's not easy to move around. It also lacks an integrated battery, so you must plug it into an outlet. The projector lacks auto keystone correction, so you'll need to adjust the image manually whenever you set it up, and it also doesn't have autofocus. It has an integrated Yamaha 2.1 speaker system, so you won't need to worry about connecting it to a soundbar if you move it.
With the laser at full output, the fans are plainly audible from a seat near the projector. Dropping the brightness by 25 points pulls the noise down a notch, and in a room with some ambient sound, the fan recedes into the background. In a quiet room, though, you'll clearly hear it, especially if you're near the unit.
The projector has three HDMI 2.0 ports, and each accepts a signal of up to 4k @ 60Hz. The third HDMI port can also project 1080p @ 120Hz, which is great for gamers. It has three USB ports, but one is only for power delivery. The remaining two USB ports are full data ports but are limited to USB 2.0 speeds. Otherwise, the projector has one mini-USB service port, a 3.5mm audio out port, and an optical audio out port. The projector also supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 5.
The Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 supports most common resolutions. Chroma 4:4:4 at 4k/60Hz requires using Game Mode on HDMI port 3, and so does 1080p @ 120Hz.
In Game Mode, the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 feels quick enough, especially at 120Hz in 1080p. 60Hz is definitely slower, but it's still quick enough for single-player titles.
The Epson LS800 projector has HDMI ARC (no eARC) plus an optical output, and our unit was fussy about format changes. During testing, ARC would sometimes get "stuck" after switching codecs; we often had to play a basic PCM 2.0 clip or force a new HDMI handshake to recover from an unwanted PCM 2.0 downmix. Feeding 7.1 LPCM was especially problematic: the AVR reported PCM 2.0, and the audio was garbled instead of the expected channel identification voice.
The Epson LS800 has Android TV built-in, with full Chromecast integration, so you can share your phone or laptop screen directly with the projector. The projector has an integrated 2.1 speaker setup from Yamaha, with two full-range 5W speakers and a 10W subwoofer.